The 40th Rheingau Wine Festival took place from August 14 to 23 between the Wiesbaden city hall, market church and city palace.
Annette Schiller and I flew from Washington DC to Frankfurt on August 20 and arrived in Frankfurt on August 21. In the afternoon, we drove over to Wiesbaden, just half an hour away from Frankfurt, to enjoy an evening of Rheingau wines at the Rheingau Wine Festival.
See also:
Barth Primus is Germany’s First Sekt Made with an Erstes Gewaechs Wine
This year, I had the pleasure to enjoy the wines from the Rheingau with my granddaughter Viatrix, my daughters Cornelia Schiller-Tremann and Katharina Schiller, along with my wife Annette Schiller and Katharina’s friend Patrick Waltz. Below are some photo impressions from the evening.
Rheingau Wine Festival
The Rheingauer Weinwoche, begun as a promotional event by the winegrowers of the Rheingau region 40 years ago, is now Europe’s biggest wine festival. It attracts more than 10 million visitors per year over a ten-day run.
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Lighting and the Flavor of Wine - With Winemaker Ulrich Allendorf in his Aroma Vineyard and Color Room at Weingut Allendorf in Oestrich Winkel, Rheingau, Germany
During these 10 days, festival dominates the historic center of Wiesbaden, spread over cobblestone streets around the Hessian State Parliament, the Town Hall and the Market Church. The center of Wiesbaden turns into "longest wine bar in the world". At about 100 stands, winemakers present their products, accompanied by a variety of culinary specialties of the area. Music bands and other show acts provide entertainment on a number of stages.
The Rheingau
It is remarkable: For its entire length of nearly 560 miles, the Rhine flows north with one exception – a 28-mile stretch where the river changes its course. Here, it flows to the west, thereby enabling both the river and the vineyards facing it to bask in the warmth of the sun all day long. This is the Rheingau, one of the medium-size German wine regions. It is a quietly beautiful region, rich in tradition. Queen Victoria's enthusiasm for Hochheim's wines contributed to their popularity in England, where they, and ultimately, Rhine wines in general, were referred to as Hock.
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A Painted Winetasting at Weingut Georg Mueller Stiftung in Hattenheim (Eltville), Rheingau, Germany
The third President of the USA - and notable bon viveur - Thomas Jefferson visited the Rheingau in 1788 and wrote that the wine of the "Abbaye of Johnsberg is the best made on the Rhine without comparison … That of the year 1775 is the best." He also referred to the Rheingau’s Riesling as the "small and delicate Rhysslin which grows only from Hochheim to Rudesheim". Impressed by the quality of the Rheingau Riesling wines, he bought 100 grapevines to take back to his estate in Virginia.
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Tasting at Weingut Balthasar Ress, Hattenheim, Rheingau, with Stefan Ress, Germany
Dirk Wuertz Presented the 2012 Grosses Gewaechs Wines of Weingut Balthasar Ress, Germany
Although the Rheingau is one of Germany’s smaller wine-growing regions, its 3,100 ha (7,660 acres) of vineyards are vastly diverse in their geological makeup. The soil varies from stony slate at the western part near the villages of Assmannshausen and Rudesheim to loess, sand and marl in the lower central villages of Geisenheim, Johannisberg, Winkel, Oestrich and Hattenheim. Soil reverts to stony phyllite in the higher central and eastern villages of Hallgarten, Kiedrich and Hochheim. Generally, wines from the lower slopes where the soil is heavier—sandy loam and loess—produce fuller wines, while at the higher slopes where it is more stony and slatey, the wines reflect more minerality, elegance and concentration.
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Best German Wines and Winemakers– Stuart Pigott’s Favorites (December 2014)
The Rheingau enjoys a distinctly continental climate with cold winters and warm, but not hot, summers. The Rheingau is dominated by Riesling, accounting for 4/5 of the vineyard area. Pinot Noir accounts for 1/10 and is concentrated around Assmannshausen.
See also
Vineyard Walk, Cellar Tour and Wine Tasting at Weingut Künstler– Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
Rheingau: Erstes Gewächs
The Rheingau introduced a few years ago the concept of Erste Lage. These are the best vineyards in the Rheingau. Any Rheingau winemaker, who owns an Erste Lage vineyard and who makes a top dry wine that passes the test of various regulations can name this wine an Erstes Gewächs. Thus: Erstes Gewächs wines are top dry wines from top vineyards (Erste Lage) in the Rheingau.
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Doepfner’s im Maingau Meets Frankfurt/Wein, with Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Chat Sauvage, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
VDP.Grosses Gewächs
Then came the VDP - the association of German elite winemakers - into the game and introduced the concept of Grosses Gewächs for its members in all 13 German wine regions. A Grosses Gewächs is a top dry wine from the very best vineyards of the VDP members, which had been named Erste Lage until recently and, starting with the 2012 vintage, have been named Grosse Lage. Note, that for some legal reasons, the VDP has started to use the suffix VDP.
See also:
Weingut Hans Lang, Hattenheim in the Rheingau: Eva Raps, Managing Director of VDP, and Urban Kaufmann, Swiss Cheese Producer, Take Over, Germany
Rheingau: VDP.Grosses Gewächs and Erstes Gewächs
Until recently, the VDP winemakers in the Rheingau did not go along with their VDP colleagues in other regions, but they went along with their non-VDP colleagues in the Rheingau: They called their best dry wines Erstes Gewächs. Thus, until recently, the top dry wines of VDP members in the Rheingau were called Erstes Gewächs, while the rest of the VDP members in the other wine regions called their top dry wines Grosses Gewächs.
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Impromptu Winetasting with Alexander Jung, Weingut Jakob Jung, Erbach, Rheingau, Germany
This changed with the 2012 vintage. The VDP winemakers from the Rheingau switched fronts and decided to call their best dry wines Grosses Gewächs. So, there is now uniformity on the VDP front.
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Meeting Winemaker/Owner Desiree Eser, Weingut August Eser, on the Banks of the Rhein River in the Rheingau in Germany
But as a consequence, there is no longer uniformity in the Rheingau: There are now two denominations for the top dry wines in the Rheingau - VDP.Grosses Gewächs (VDP members) and Erstes Gewächs (non-VDP members). Roughly 90% of the top dry wines in the Rheingau are VDP.Grosses Gewächs and 10% Erstes Gewächs.
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Barth Primus is Germany’s First Sekt Made with an Erstes Gewaechs Wine
Lighting and the Flavor of Wine - With Winemaker Ulrich Allendorf in his Aroma Vineyard and Color Room at Weingut Allendorf in Oestrich Winkel, Rheingau, Germany
A Painted Winetasting at Weingut Georg Mueller Stiftung in Hattenheim (Eltville), Rheingau, Germany
Tasting at Weingut Balthasar Ress, Hattenheim, Rheingau, with Stefan Ress, Germany
Dirk Wuertz Presented the 2012 Grosses Gewaechs Wines of Weingut Balthasar Ress, Germany
Best German Wines and Winemakers– Stuart Pigott’s Favorites (December 2014)
Vineyard Walk, Cellar Tour and Wine Tasting at Weingut Künstler– Germany-North Wine Tour by ombiasy (2014)
Doepfner’s im Maingau Meets Frankfurt/Wein, with Weingut Battenfeld-Spanier and Weingut Chat Sauvage, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Weingut Hans Lang, Hattenheim in the Rheingau: Eva Raps, Managing Director of VDP, and Urban Kaufmann, Swiss Cheese Producer, Take Over, Germany
Impromptu Winetasting with Alexander Jung, Weingut Jakob Jung, Erbach, Rheingau, Germany
Meeting Winemaker/Owner Desiree Eser, Weingut August Eser, on the Banks of the Rhein River in the Rheingau in Germany